G. Venkatswamy (85), senior-most Congress leader from undivided Andhra Pradesh, died after prolonged illness at a corporate hospital here on Monday evening. He is survived by two sons – G. Vinod and G. Vivekanand – and three daughters, one of whom is the wife of former Minister P. Shanker Rao. His wife Kalavathi passed away in April 2006.
Venkatswamy who is popularly known as “Kaka” in his five-decade long political career held several important positions in the Congress as its working committee member, Union Minister, State party president and member of several Parliamentary standing committees. He was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times. Except at the height of Telangana agitation in 1969 when he parted ways with the Congress and sailed with former Chief Minister M. Channa Reddy, Mr. Venkatswamy was always a party loyalist.
He won as a candidate of Telangana Praja Samiti (TPS) headed by Channa Reddy in the 1971 Lok Sabha election from Siddipet. He also won recognition when he received an injury in police firing near Musheerabad jail in 1969 when he rushed there on learning about police excesses on agitationists.
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Venkatswamy was an active trade unionist and headed the Indian National Trade Union Congress from 1961 to 1964. He founded the B.R. Ambedkar Education Society which was converted into a public education trust . The society runs nine educational institutions from its huge campus at Bagh Lingampalli here. As the general secretary of National Huts Union, he provided accommodation to 75,000 hut dwellers and earned the sobriquet “Gudisela Venkatswamy”.